


Two Kunoichi Worlds

by ThePeaPodinthePumpkinPie



Category: Bleach, Naruto
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 11:31:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8622946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePeaPodinthePumpkinPie/pseuds/ThePeaPodinthePumpkinPie
Summary: Part One: Shihouin Yoruichi and Soi Fong, two Konoha kunoichi, are designated to train three other budding Konoha kunoichi.  As a team, they make the three into powerful ninja who eventually go on to train under Senjuu Tsunade.Part Two: Uzumaki Naruto returns to Konoha after a two and a half year trip.  Shihouin Yoruichi and Soi Fong find out that they are not the only kunoichi called Shihouin Yoruichi and Soi Fong, and that the parallel universe theory is a very real thing.  When the two worlds collide, their students meet the comrades of their other selves.But it's not just comrades that meet up.  Aizen, Orochimaru, and the Akatsuki also find out about each other.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, so many thoughts.
> 
> This started out as a purely Naruto fic. I went through countless drafts. I trailed them all over the Internet. Naruto readers got very frustrated with me. But I just couldn't get it right. I kept encountering the problem of some flat female Naruto characters being trained by other flat female Naruto characters.
> 
> But then I thought... what if I had flat female Naruto characters meet delicious complex female Bleach characters? And thus this story was born.
> 
> Part one will be Naruto, with Soi Fong and Yoruichi thrown in. Part two will be Bleach and Naruto colliding. Soi Fong and Yoruichi will each meet their other selves, and all the characters of both worlds will get thrown together in a massive OMG chaos of a no-shit-this-is-real story.
> 
> But I have to build first. I do understand readers getting frustrated with me for always stopping around the time training ends in these stories. I'm sorry. I had to get it right. As a peace offering, here's the first six chapters all at the same time. There ya go. Training over right from the beginning.

1.

Yoruichi was not going the conventional way of choosing her pupils.

As she stood there, her arms crossed, behind Umino Iruka Sensei, she watched the students with a critical eye. She was standing in front of the third year Konoha Ninja Academy class, and she was to be here as a mentor figure. Three girls in particular had to catch her eye, chosen at her own discretion. Most people would take this opportunity to choose the most powerful students imaginable, stroke their own ego a little bit.

Yoruichi wanted the rejects. The girls who no one thought would do anything.

She could be quiet when she wanted to be, and she watched, reserved, as the students chattered amongst themselves before class started, some of them giving her curious looks. Did any of the girls stand out? Not at first. But upon closer observation, she found two possible contenders. 

They seemed to be arguing. One had pink hair, green eyes, heart shaped face; the other had ash blonde hair, pupil-less powder blue eyes, oval shaped face; body types currently indeterminate, as they were only nine, but both were fairly slim. Physically they had potential - neither one was ugly. But the telltale signs of decay were all there. Long shimmering inconvenient hair, loose and obviously hours taken upon. Skeletally thin forms. Thick premature layers of non-waterproof makeup. 

They were pushing and shoving each other out of a seat next to a hot guy, screaming and screeching and slapping at each other. The word “pig” was being thrown around a lot, one girl shouting it at the other. There seemed to be a general focus on insulting each other’s appearance, presumably the focal point of each girl’s life.

“Soi Fong,” she murmured to her bodyguard and understudy, “what do you think of the two of them?”

Soi Fong looked and wrinkled her nose. “Them? Why? They’re pathetic.”

Yoruichi’s lips curled in wry amusement. “True, but that’s why I like them. I’m looking for something improve upon. It would be boring if I picked three girls who were already perfect.” There was more to her reasoning than this, but she chose not to reveal that for now.

“If you’re looking for a charity case, how about that girl?” Soi Fong nodded in another area of the classroom. “That girl’s the most charity case looking specimen I can think of.” 

Yoruichi’s eyes widened in surprise. “She’s so quiet I didn’t even notice her. Very good, Soi Fong.” Soi Fong beamed in pride.

The third girl had short blue-black hair, the trademark silvery violet pupil-less Hyuuga clan eyes, round face shape; somewhat fuller body type. She wore a big baggy faded sweatshirt that self-consciously hid most of her form. Her fingers were twisting around each other in a nervous tic and she was shyly, silently watching a boy from across the room, blushing.

“A shrinking violet and two loud shrews,” said Yoruichi thoughtfully. “They won’t be happy. All of them seem to be caught on some boy. Soi Fong, pull their forms.”

Soi Fong looked through the paperwork they’d been given by the Academy headmaster. “Hyuuga Hinata, middling grades, rejected as clan heiress by her clan head father. Passed over in favor of her younger sister. No friends in class - too shy.

“The blonde one is obviously a Yamanaka, by the eyes... Ah, yes, here, Yamanaka Ino. You won’t like it, Yoruichi-sama. Excellent grades, extremely popular.”

“But has her father declared her clan heiress?”

“... No.” And here, Soi Fong frowned in puzzlement down at the paperwork. “He hasn’t.”

Yoruichi smirked. “She may get good grades at the Academy, but I doubt she pays very much attention to her personal studies. There’s more to being a Yamanaka clan head than throwing a kunai knife correctly.

“And the third girl?”

She was still looking straight ahead of herself musingly at the three prospects.

“Haruno Sakura. Excellent academic grades, poor physical grades. Her parents are first generation Chuunin level ninja. She would be the first decisive Haruno clan head by default.”

“Then they’ll expect more from her than she seems to be currently exhibiting,” said Yoruichi thoughtfully. Then she smiled. “Well. Let’s see how they do.”

Soi Fong watched her mentor, silently impressed. Yoruichi was so bubbly and fiery all the time in everyday life, it was easy to forget what a canny ninja seductress she was. Her observational skills and critical thought processes were something Soi Fong aspired to someday equal.

Umino Iruka, a friendly young man with a brown ponytail of hair and a wide scar across his nose, called the class to order. “Students!” he said, clapping. “Today we have two very special guests joining us. Shihouin Yoruichi is the head of the prestigious Shihouin clan, taijutsu masters all, and a Jounin level ninja. Her assistant, Soi Fong, never leaves her side - it is the duty of Soi Fong’s family to guard Yoruichi-sama’s family. They go on missions together and you never see one without the other. I have been told Soi Fong is a Chuunin level ninja, specializing in knife fighting.

“They are here today to collect three students - at their request, female students. They will observe you today and decide who among your number are worthy to be taken out of the Academy and study personally under them at the Shihouin private mansion...” He smiled mischievously around at the students, infected with a great sense of drama, as some of the girls gasped in delight.

Yoruichi reflected on her assigned mission from Hokage-sama: “Yoruichi, I want you to privately train a group of students. Myself and the council are testing the effectiveness of private small-group training versus large Academy-class training. You’re my Jounin. We all see how much difference you have made in the young Soi Fong.”

This was the other motivation behind Yoruichi’s desire to select “rejects.” If she was going to train three Academy level students, she wanted to train the most marginalized group possible - weakened and rejected women. That way, when she turned them into strong kunoichi, powerful ninja, she’d feel she’d actually accomplished something.

She’d already been a strong female mentor figure to Soi Fong, who was younger than her, but there was always room for more female mentees in Yoruichi’s life. Call her a romantic - she had a big sister streak.

“The selected girls will train for their final three Academy years with Soi Fong-san and Yoruichi-sama, and will then take the Genin entrance exam into the ninja forces alongside their former Academy classmates,” Iruka finished crisply. “So look sharp today. It may just get you somewhere.”

The minute he was finished, the boy Hinata had been watching stood up. He had messy blond hair, bright blue eyes, and even brighter colored clothing. “Why does it have to be girls?!” he shouted immediately, pointing fearlessly at his Sensei and the two women behind him. “I think they should train me, because I’m amazing! Uzumaki Naruto’s the name and I’m going to lead this entire village one day!”

“No you’re not, Uzumaki, sit down and stop being a dumbass!” a boy with Inuzuka clan markings on his face snapped.

“Shut up, Inuzuka, I don’t see you jumping up to ask for a place with them! Two chicken?” said Naruto mockingly.

The Inuzuka boy stood furiously, the puppy partner on his head barking. “Oh, that’s rich, coming from the guy who failed the last three exams!”

“Both of you, shut up!” That cold, icy snap came from the boy Sakura and Ino had been fighting over. He was handsome, with dark hair, pale skin, and coal black eyes; he had an expression even more frigid than his complexion, and a good deal of contemptuous arrogance to go along with it, a rather nasty combination. He looked so fearsome that when he glared at them, even Uzumaki Naruto and the Inuzuka boy did indeed shut up.

The boy turned to the two women slowly, and said softly, “Why the requirement that only women can receive this training? I think that anyone who shows sufficient talent should be allowed to enter the competition.” He lifted his chin. He had, inadvertently, missed the point of the opportunity - to improve.

Yoruichi stepped forward and smirked. “Let me guess. Best in the class?” She wasn’t fazed by him in the least. At the just-shy-of-mocking amusement in her voice, the boy’s resolve wavered a little.

“Uchiha Sasuke,” he said at last, “and as it happens, yes I am.”

That explained a lot. Uchiha Sasuke’s family had been murdered in front of him at the hand of his traitorous and once-revered elder brother. No wonder he was such a dick. It wasn’t an excuse, but it did account for a lot.

“Hey! If he gets to be chosen, I definitely get to be!” Uzumaki Naruto shouted.

Uzumaki Naruto. The village pariah because he had a demon sealed inside his body. A ruffian, but an infamous one - a boy with something to prove.

“No boy is being chosen! Silence and listen to Yoruichi-sama!” Soi Fong snapped, determined to outdo some Academy boy in her level of ferocity, and even Sasuke looked somewhat surprised and cowed.

“Soi Fong is right,” said Yoruichi calmly, smiling. “No boy is being chosen, and this is not a competition.” She focused on the three girls she was considering. They had been watching the goings-on, torn, on tenterhooks - afraid, perhaps, of their loves being taken away from them. The minute she spoke, they relaxed. “I have my own personal reasons for choosing women, reasons I may not choose to divulge with you. Is that clear?”

Iruka stepped forward, glaring around at them all. “Now, if you will all please stop embarrassing me in front of esteemed guests -” There was a sheepish pause. “Let class begin.”

Yoruichi stepped back and muttered wryly to Soi Fong, “Those girls sure know how to pick ‘em, don’t they?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” said Soi Fong fervently.

Sakura, Ino, and Hinata all individually watched the two women unerringly. The lead one, Yoruichi, was curvaceous with brown skin, golden eyes, and long, beautiful purplish black hair tied back in a sensible ponytail. The other, Soi Fong, was smaller, slimmer, and paler, with almond shaped dark eyes and short black hair cut in a style that hinted at a particular clan tradition. Both were pretty, high-cheekboned and well fit. Even as the girls watched, one woman murmured wryly to the other and they shared a dry smile at something unheard. 

They were strong and obviously glamorous kunoichi, but neither Sakura nor Hinata nor Ino could afford to be chosen. They already had their goals locked in place, to stay with their respective crushes, and all their dreams had become locked up inside that. Showing off strength was only alright as long as it pleased and impressed their crushes, did not offend them, as long as it kept the girls on the same path as the boys. One could say this for them: they would not be swayed from their purposes easily.

No, Sakura, Hinata, and Ino were going to make sure they weren’t chosen. They were going to bomb all the activities for today.

Yoruichi smiled to herself. All going according to plan.

-

Iruka put the students through their paces in a kind of review session, determined to show off all their abilities to the two women. Sasuke and Naruto both stood out - Sasuke as an effortless expert and Naruto as a slacker. They started out with a written test. It physically pained Sakura to do poorly in any academic subject, but even she gritted her teeth and wrote down purposefully the wrong answers on the test.

It was time for a little sabotage.

While their tests were being graded by Iruka’s teaching assistant Mizuki, a quiet young man with long pale hair, Iruka put them through a ninjutsu test. The students all lined up in front of him, and one by one they would come forward, make the correct hand sign combination, and try (or not try) to display a proper Transformation Technique.

Sasuke did his ninjutsu completely wordlessly, quiet and reserved. Naruto marked himself out as the class clown by vengefully transforming into a naked Yoruichi and making a pass at the teacher. Iruka fainted, while Soi Fong was suddenly, faster than anyone could see her move, at her supposed teacher’s throat with a knife.

Naruto transformed back into himself and swallowed, the knife at his throat, blood slowly dripping from the tiny cut the knife was making in his skin. Soi Fong’s face was twisted into a snarl, a fierce kind of smile. “You want to try that again?” she hissed.

“Relax, Soi Fong.” Yoruichi walked over and put a hand on Soi Fong’s shoulder. “I’m not impressed, Uzumaki Naruto. I don’t see how you ever expect to impress enough people to become Hokage by transforming into naked versions of them.” Naruto blushed, relaxing as Soi Fong begrudgingly put the knife away. Then Yoruichi grinned. “And if you wanted to see my boobs, all you had to do was ask!” She lifted up her shirt, revealing that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

Naruto gaped, several students gasped, and Soi Fong looked away blushing. 

“Nothing wrong with a little bit of kink.” Yoruichi shrugged and smiled, pulling her shirt back down. “You can get off on that for a couple of nights. Can you get off yet? Huh.” She pondered, looking thoughtful.

“Yoruichi-sama... they’re only children,” Soi Fong pointed out, pained.

“Don’t get soft on me, Soi Fong. They’re ninja. That changes the whole game.” The students were clearly wondering what she meant. Yoruichi looked them over idly. “So... does your teacher pass out a lot?” 

There were some slow nods.

“Is he going to show me any of your stealth or strategic abilities, your speed, or any other useful things related to being a ninja?”

“... I think taijutsu is next,” the Inuzuka kid offered.

“Good to know,” said Yoruichi, feeling as exasperated as Soi Fong looked. “Soi Fong. Go wake up their Sensei.

“Oh, and don’t tell him about the whole ‘flashing you’ thing. That stays between us, ‘kay?” Yoruichi winked as Soi Fong went to wake up Iruka.

The students would question her abilities, but they had just seen how fast Soi Fong could move. They didn’t even want to see the abilities of her superior. Anyone who held a higher position over someone who could slit your throat in under five seconds... well, let’s just say you kept a safe distance from them.

Yoruichi looked over at Hinata, who hadn’t moved out of her line of vision. When everyone else had moved backward away from Naruto, Hinata had moved forward, looking genuinely alarmed... almost as if she were prepared to take on Soi Fong should she try to take Naruto’s life.

Interesting.

Iruka was highly embarrassed upon being woken up, and looked desperately uncomfortable as the test continued. Students were openly mocked and laughed at by their peers when they did the ninjutsu technique wrong - students including the three girls Yoruichi and Soi Fong were watching. 

This was hardest for Ino, it was visibly obvious. She despised doing a ninjutsu wrong in front of others, looked furious and humiliated at being laughed at. Sakura jeered at her loudly from the line and Ino looked ready for murder.

All three girls did poorly.

The students took a lunch break - Yoruichi and Soi Fong watched from the Academy rooftop as Sasuke stared blankly at Sakura and Ino who were trying in increasingly desperate ways to get his attention, as Hinata pretended not to be watching Naruto from afar - and when they came back the test results were in. They all looked at the long list of grades tacked to the blackboard, seeing where each person had fallen. “Damn, Forehead Girl, what happened to you?” Ino smiled viciously at a quiet and embarrassed Sakura - knowing perfectly well that Sakura was trying to blow this just as much as she was.

Sakura blushed and glared sideways at her. “At least I did better than you, Ino-pig,” she sniped spitefully.

Then came taijutsu sparring. Everyone gathered in a circle, in the dirt behind the Academy building, around each pair of combatants, cheering for particular opponents, clapping and stamping their feet. The combatants went at each other without head or hand gear. They made the combat hand sign at the beginning, the friendship hand sign at the end.

Sakura and Ino were pitted against each other, trying out increasingly pathetic moves against one another, in some kind of weird, fervent competition to see who could fare worse. Yoruichi wondered idly if they could see Sasuke eyeing them in a kind of distant disgust.

Hinata was paired against the Inuzuka boy. The Hyuuga were also experts in a different style of hand to hand, as prestigious in their own way as the Shihouin, which made trying to be bad at taijutsu against a commoner something of a trial for Hinata. She hung back, flailing out weak, childish punches and guards, shy and hesitant, until at last Inuzuka Kiba stopped feeling sorry for her and knocked her off her feet.

“Sorry, Hyuuga,” he said sympathetically as he helped her back to her feet after the fight was over, “but no way are you getting picked.”

Hinata stayed silent. Yoruichi glanced over to make sure - Naruto wasn’t even looking at Hinata. He was laughing at something Nara Shikamaru had said beside him instead.

At the end of the day, Iruka placed three select female students - the best of the bunch for the day - proudly in the front row. He was somewhat surprised Yamanaka Ino hadn’t made the cut, but in any case -

“Yoruichi-sama and Soi Fong-san will now come to their decision,” he told the class, who was waiting in silent anticipation. Yoruichi and Soi Fong looked at each other, nodded, and Yoruichi stepped forward.

“We choose Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, and Hyuuga Hinata,” she said.

The class paused, registered what she had said - and gaped disbelievingly.

All three girls gasped and shot to their feet. “But - but -!”

“Girls! No protests, this is a great honor!” Iruka snapped. But then he turned to take Yoruichi and Soi Fong aside, concerned. “Are you sure?” he said quietly. “They’re not the strongest I have. The only similarity I can see between all three of them is that they all have great intelligence and excellent chakra control.”

“Do they? Good to know.” Yoruichi nodded to him.

Iruka stared, torn.

“Do not question Yoruichi-sama’s decisions! She knows what she is doing!” said Soi Fong, suddenly severe.

“Of - of course, please forgive me.” Iruka bowed his head and stepped back.

Yoruichi turned to the class. “The girls I have mentioned!” she barked. “Come with me!”

The girls paused, and then trudged defeatedly out of the classroom after the two women. They could feel Sasuke and Naruto’s glares on their backs, envious glares, and it just made them a weird combination of depressed and angry.

The minute they were outside the classroom, Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and bowed. “Yoruichi-sama,” she said, “please train Uchiha Sasuke in my place.”

Yoruichi paused and turned backward in surprise.

Hinata’s eyes widened, and then she bowed as well. “P-please train Uzumaki Naruto in my place,” she whispered.

“Or better yet,” said Ino loudly, scowling, hands on her hips, “let me train alongside Uchiha Sasuke!”

Soi Fong opened her mouth to scold them, but Yoruichi held up a hand. She looked reserved. This had to be handled carefully.

“You three would do anything for those two boys, wouldn’t you?” she said. “Die for them? Sacrifice your own training for them? You would do anything to be beside them?”

Sakura and Hinata straightened, and Ino paused. Then they all nodded, eyes wide and earnest.

“Such loyalty is to be admired,” said Yoruichi, “but I wonder... should you feel so loyal to a boy who doesn’t want you to be strong?”

“Sasuke-kun needs someone who will support him!” Ino snapped defensively, all knowing. “Someone pretty and skinny and who understands everything about him!”

“Skinny - or strong and fit?” Yoruichi challenged. “Strong and fit people can also look slim and healthy, can’t they?”

Ino paused.

“And will someone who is weak really be able to support Sasuke - or for that matter Naruto?” Yoruichi continued mischievously. “Look, girls. It’s all about the kind of guy you’re willing to put up with, and the kind of girl you want to be.

“Would you rather be a weak girl, who dates guys that can’t handle someone strong?

“Or would you rather be a strong girl, who dates guys that respect strong women and don’t feel threatened by them?”

“Well - well of course Sasuke-kun wouldn’t feel threatened by a girl as strong as he is!” Sakura said after a moment. “Of course he would want a strong, fit girl!”

Whether this was what Sasuke actually wanted at all was up for debate. Neither Yoruichi nor Soi Fong were convinced privately that these girls understood their crushes anywhere near as well as they thought they did. But making these girls face up to their crushes could be worked on later - Soi Fong knew it as well as Yoruichi did. For now, it was a matter of mindset.

“And Hinata? What about Naruto?”

“N-Naruto-kun would never feel threatened by anyone,” said Hinata firmly. “I... I too want to be someone strong!” She looked up, determined. “Strong and fit!”

“Excellent. So we’re all on the same page,” said Yoruichi.

“Yeah,” said Ino, grinning viciously, catching on. “This is actually a blessing in disguise. We’ll have a leg up on all those other girls. The best way to get to those two boys... is to impress them.”

Yoruichi and Soi Fong looked at each other and smiled. Step one: completed.

“Now,” said Yoruichi, turning more serious, “I’m sure you’ve realized this already, but you will be living with me at my mansion. Cutting yourself off from your old life and immersing yourself in your new one is vital.” None of the girls looked surprised, but they all looked upset and torn. “So. Go say goodbye to your friends and family, pack your things - oh, and bring your clan scrolls. You’ll need them.

“Dismissed.”


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Sakura came home to her parents and told them the news. “I have been chosen to train privately in the Shihouin mansion for three years,” she said determinedly. “They want a complete cut-off from earlier parts of my life, which means starting now I’ll be living there.”

Sakura’s mother shot to her feet. “What?! Why wasn’t I consulted in this?!” she barked.

“Well,” said Sakura’s father soothingly, “they can’t exactly inform every single parent that has a student in the Academy -”

“Yes they damn well can!” Sakura’s mother snapped. 

“Honey, some of those parents are civilians,” Sakura’s father pointed out gently.

“What?! So you’re taking Hokage-sama’s side in this?! You want your daughter to leave?!” Mebuki snarled.

At last, Kizashi stood, getting angry as well. “I never said that and I never would! I’m just being realistic! She’s a ninja; we’re ninja! It happens!”

Sakura had sighed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, looking away. Her parents were always doing this. But then to Sakura’s amazement, Mebuki paused and her lip trembled.

Sakura had never seen her mother cry before.

Suddenly, Mebuki rushed around the table and hugged her daughter very hard. Sakura had a lot of issues with her parents - they expected too much from her, yet tried to protect her from too much, an oxymoron she was all too well aware of - but at her mother’s familiar warm cinnamon scent, she realized she would miss her parents. Her eyes stung and she wrapped her arms around her mother in a hug.

Kizashi came over and wrapped them both up in his arms, and they all just stood there for a moment.

“It’s better this way,” said Sakura in a small, trembling voice most unlike her usual one. “I always wanted to be a strong kunoichi. Yoruichi-sama is supposed to be the strongest there is.”

Her parents stepped backward, and Mebuki put her hand to her daughter’s face and smiled, another rarity. “Then I’m happy for you,” she said, pained.

Sakura swallowed, hoping this all wasn’t a huge mistake.

-

The Konoha Archives Library was set into rock at the base of the village’s vast sandstone Hokage Monument. It was hidden in plain sight right in the center of the village. Sakura went to the concealed stone entrance and tapped it in the right code. A block of stone moved aside, revealing a Konoha ninja in a leaf green flak vest.

Seriously, she showed off her Academy student ID and was given a chakra scan to make sure she wasn’t under an illusion or a Transformation Technique. Then the ninja stood aside and she was allowed within the archive depths.

Rough stone walls and ceiling lit with flaming torches made up the Konoha Ninja Archives. There were tables with chairs in the middle, and vast walls and rows of shelves stacked to the ceiling filled with tagged books and scrolls on all manner of ninja techniques Konoha had access to - the techniques anyone could learn, at least. Some abilities, Sakura knew, could only be passed down genetically though clans, and those were not included.

But much of it anyone could master, and that was what Sakura was after.

Yoruichi and Soi Fong had pulled her aside after dismissing them. “Sakura,” Yoruichi had said, “all three of you have good chakra control and great intelligence. But your intelligence levels and academic grades were the best in your entire class. I take it your chakra control is also excellent?”

“I can master any Academy-level ninjutsu in a matter of hours,” Sakura had said proudly.

Soi Fong had given an entirely evil smirk Sakura wasn’t sure she was a fan of. Yoruichi and Soi Fong had looked at each other and nodded once, smiling. “Sakura, since you don’t have any clan techniques yet, we’re going to give you some. You’re going to master genjutsu - illusions. They require master chakra control and enormous levels of observation, intelligence, strategy, and imagination. I want you to go to the archives and check out all the books and scrolls they have on illusive techniques.”

Sakura went straight to the genjutsu section and began pulling out books and scrolls, paging through them, scanning them, looking for useful techniques.

She smirked down at the parchment. Yes, that should do.

-

Ino told her parents what had happened.

“I’ve been chosen to train for three years under Shihouin Yoruichi in her private mansion,” she said, standing in front of them.

Her parents stood immediately. “Ino, that’s wonderful,” said her mother warmly, though her father looked torn.

“I will then reenter the forces with everyone else and come back home,” Ino confirmed, and she saw her father relax minutely, only catching it because she knew him so well. Inoichi was a torture & interrogations specialist for black ops; he was not particularly emotive.

He went into the back and retrieved the clan scrolls, handing them to her. “This is the bulk of Yamanaka clan knowledge on mind and body control,” he said. “Use it well.” Then, after a moment: “... I’m proud of you,” he said, looking at her gently.

“This is an enormous honor for any great ninja. Remember that, no matter how hard it gets.” Her mother put her hands on Ino’s shoulders. “Take courage, Ino.”

Ino nodded. She came from a several-generations-old clan. She’d grown up with the ninja mentality. She was calm and she knew what to do.

“Make yourself worthy of the Yamanaka name,” they said, but they said that a lot and Ino was never quite sure what it meant.

-

Hinata slid aside the shoji screen and knelt before her father on the tatami mats in his private office. “Father,” she whispered, “I have been chosen to train under Shihouin Yoruichi in her private mansion.”

Her father at last looked up from his paperwork. “She uses a different taijutsu style,” he said sharply.

“She said to bring my own main family clan scrolls,” said Hinata quickly. “So either she wants me to focus on Gentle Fist, or she wants me to learn both styles. Th-this would be of great benefit to me as a ninja,” she muttered, losing courage and ducking her head.

Hiashi stared at her for a long time. “... Why?” he said at last.

Hinata blinked. “E-excuse me?”

“Why would she choose you?” he asked, looking honestly bewildered. “You are too soft, and you have no special skills.”

Hinata choked back pain and lowered her eyes. “I... I do not know, Father,” she said, her voice trembling.

Hiashi at last looked away dismissively. “You do not have any duties within the clan, so feel free to leave,” he said, returning to his paperwork. “I shall expect good reports.”

It was clear the meeting was over.

“Y... yes, Father.” Hinata bowed and left. 

As she was padding back down the compound hallway, Hinata saw her sister Hanabi and her cousin Neji step in front of her. “So - you’ve been sent away,” said Neji, cold and reserved. He’d been watching the meeting with his Byakugan eyes.

Hinata swallowed. “Y... yes, Neji-nii-san.”

“As is to be expected. You are better suited elsewhere,” said Neji simply, and he ghosted past her silently down the hall. 

Hanabi looked up at Hinata, interested. “I heard Yoruichi-sama is amazing,” she said. “You’re really lucky, Nee-chan.”

Hinata smiled, pained. “You are the first person to say that, Hanabi,” she said. 

Back in her bedroom, she knelt before the shrine she had to her mother. She looked at the photograph, gazing into her mother’s face - her mother, who looked so much like Hanabi. It was why Hinata never had the heart to defeat Hanabi in battle, why she was considered so useless.

“Mother,” she said, “I’m training under Shihouin Yoruichi.” She paused. “I don’t know how you’d feel about this,” she admitted at last. “Yoruichi-sama is from a rival clan. But I promise to be true to the Hyuuga name, and Yoruichi-sama wants to make me stronger. I... I hope you’d be proud of me.”

Hinata bowed, stood, and went to the clan elders to retrieve the scrolls on Byakugan eyes and Gentle Fist taijutsu.

-

The girls all stood, their packs on their backs, in front of the Shihouin Mansion. Vast compound walls blocked off the compound from all outside access. Guards stood at the front entrance. 

Sakura, Ino, and Hinata exchanged cautious looks and, closer together than they would usually have been, they approached the guards.

“We’re -” Ino began.

“We’ve been told to expect you,” a guard interrupted stoically. He gave them a brief chakra scan up and down and said, “You may enter.”

They walked down the stone pathway surrounded by green moss and to the big traditional-looking foremost building. A smiling clan greeter stood by the door. “Come with me,” she said, “and I’ll show you to your rooms.”

They slid off their shoes and followed her down wood hallways, down stone pathways, past shoji screens and vast gold-gilded traditional buildings, past magnificent gardens. “This is even better than my clan’s quarters...” whispered Hinata, her eyes wide. Sakura was silent in terrified awe.

“The Shihouin must bathe in money,” said Ino disbelievingly.

They were taken through a series of rooms, each plushly decorated with rugs and warm comfortable furniture, gold decorations on the walls. They passed by a huge empty training field, an indoor pool, through a vast sparring room covered in matting with taijutsu mastery medals on the walls. 

Finally, they were set in front of three rooms. Each was the same - a low set bed with purple bedding, a basin of water, a chamberpot, a fire pit with a black kettle hung over it, and a gold embroidered tapestry of a famous kunoichi escapade on the far wall.

“This is where you’ll be staying,” said the greeter. “I hope you’ll be comfortable.” 

“What’s the chamber pot for?” said Ino, wrinkling her nose.

“We do have indoor plumbing,” said the greeter smoothly, revealing little. “But the compound is hard to maneuver at night. Not to worry, you will have servants to clean up after you.” 

They set their things down uncertainly inside, staring around themselves, and Sakura looked down in surprise as a black cat slithered past her ankles.

“Yoruichi-sama’s cat,” said the greeter. “She and Soi Fong-sama are quite fond of them; they have several. They expect you in the dining hall we passed for dinner in one hour.” And she left.

They each walked out of their rooms and stared at each other, guarded, in the hallway.

Ino smirked. “I’m going to beat you, Forehead Girl,” she told Sakura smugly. “Just like I always have before. I’ll win Sasuke-kun.”

“Not in what Yoruichi-sama has me training for you won’t, Ino-pig,” said Sakura, glaring, fists clenched. “And I’ll win Sasuke-kun!”

Ino’s eyes widened in momentary surprise.

“I... I think we should stop fighting,” said Hinata quietly, stepping between them, looking from one to the other. “We’re all in this together.” She had no competition for her affections with Naruto, and she knew it, but privately she also hoped to impress him.

“You want me to work with Ino-pig?” said Sakura disbelievingly. She and Ino were glaring at each other over Hinata’s head.

“I think rivalry is fine,” said Hinata carefully. “But I think we’re also a team and - and we should act like one.” At last, her courage failed her; she tucked in her chin.

Ino stared expressionlessly at Sakura for a long moment, then snorted and turned away. “Hinata’s right,” she said, surprising both Hinata and Sakura. “Fighting is stupid. With how hard Soi Fong-sama and Yoruichi-sama will be working us, we don’t have any time for pointless bickering. But rivalry is different. I’ll see you on the training field, Forehead Girl.” She tossed her hair and walked away to go explore the rest of the manor and the grounds.

“I’ll be there, Ino-pig!” Sakura called after her angrily. Then she turned to Hinata and smiled. “Thanks,” she said.

Hinata offered a small smile in return. “Anytime,” she said. “Shall we help each other unpack?”

-

They all met and knelt at the table at the appointed time for dinner, reserved, wearing nice clothes. The dining hall was long, servants standing stiffly along walls ready to pour drinks. They were nervous, despite themselves. Soi Fong sat at one end of the table, Yoruichi at the head.

There was a stark silence for the first few minutes of dinner. The girls’ eyes were lowered. Each was afraid of saying the wrong thing.

Yoruichi looked around at them and smiled. “How stiff,” she said. “This is no fun at all.” Everyone looked up at her in surprise. “We hit the ground running tomorrow,” she said, “so you should have fun now while it lasts. And you should eat more.” She nodded to their plates.

“But we have to look -!” Ino began, arguing. Even Hinata, self conscious of the weight she hid with her sweatshirts and sweaters, was frowning. Sakura looked positively rebellious.

Yoruichi sighed and rolled her eyes. “If you eat healthy and work out a lot, you don’t need to diet to look good,” she said, deadpan. “Remember what I said about getting strong?” There was an embarrassed, uncertain silence. “If you don’t eat a lot now and tomorrow morning, you’ll just pass out on the training field.”

“Obedience to your superiors is also of paramount importance,” said Soi Fong coldly, glaring so fiercely even Ino fell silent. “Yoruichi-sama telling you to eat should be incentive enough to eat. She knows what she is doing. You’re ninja; an explanation from your higher-up should not be required.”

“... Yes, ma’am,” said Sakura, embarrassed, getting more to eat. Hinata already had - she wanted to be a slimmer, stronger person, so she trusted the curvaceous Yoruichi. Reluctantly, at last, Ino got more food as well.

“How did your parents take the news?” Yoruichi asked kindly.

And from there, they moved into more open conversation. Each hid things from the others, but it was still surprising how much they learned about one another’s families. It made their teammates seem less like classmates, and more like people.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

To their surprise, their first lessons had very little to do with being a ninja.

“From me, you will learn etiquette and clan management training,” said a tiny, fierce lady with a tight bun of brown hair sternly. There were frown lines around her mouth and eyes so that her face was set in a perpetual glare. “You will learn how to be a proper woman and clan head.”

“B-but I won’t lead my clan -” Hinata began self consciously.

Sakura raised her hand. “What does this have to do with being a ninja -?”  

“Hey, I’m already a perfect lady -!” said Ino indignantly.

“Silence!” She glared around at them all, and then sighed. “This is going to take some work. I should not have to explain to you Yoruichi-sama’s logic, but here is the reasoning. You will all either form, lead, or be a high-status member of a clan someday. This also means becoming a member of the council. This requires enormous tact, eloquence, and etiquette, a kind of patience - qualities you clearly do not yet possess,” she added in annoyance.

The girls sagged, quieting down sheepishly. 

“This mindset is also important for being a ninja,” said the woman. “Calm observation of situations, patience, and tact is vital. That is why you will learn it. 

“My name is Hanetsuki and I will be your instructor for these lessons.”

A name reminiscent of a playful game. They did not miss the irony.

Her exercises for them varied. They learned grace and poise by balancing books on their head, along with completely silent walking. They walked around with weights and heavy layers of dresses so they could learn to walk more slowly.

She also taught them verbal tact and eloquence. She made them memorize dictionaries, and conversed with them on important issues both to increase their vocabulary and politeness and to correct them when they said stupid, tactless things. Impatience and tactlessness were Sakura and Ino’s problems, and Hanetsuki shouted at them countless times over it.

Hinata had a different problem, which was under-confidence. “To be soft-spoken is not a problem,” said Hanetsuki, who gave off an air of being perpetually irritated. “But you cannot stutter and stammer and second-guess yourself when you speak.”

Sakura and Ino came together, sympathetic, to help Hinata overcome her shyness. They constantly encouraged her, telling her enthusiastically that she was better than she gave herself credit for. Hinata, in turn, became the diplomat with the two of them - helping them be more polite and tactful and intervening whenever they began bickering, but also learning to stoke the flames of their rivalry when they started to get unenthusiastic about lessons. 

There was nothing like realizing they were falling behind the other to get Sakura and Ino to act. 

One thing they quickly lost, however, was the childish slapping, screeching, shoving, and name-calling. Instead, they turned to sharp smiles and pointed, veiled insults and good-natured rivalry - more refined and socially appropriate forms of competing alongside one another. Each had a role - Sakura was more strategic, but Ino was a natural leader. With Hinata more confident, quiet, and diplomatic, each slowly filled a certain role on their makeshift team.

But they also learned the aspects of being a clan head - ordering others about strategically, doing paperwork and accounting and balancing check books, even diplomatically negotiating with various parties or between rivaling factions of people or clan members having an argument. One thing Yoruichi liked to do was have her students solve a problem within the Shihouin clan, watching cannily, silent, to see how much progress they’d made. 

Yoruichi’s younger brother, somewhat bumbling and childish, often caused trouble, so although he lived in a different wing of the compound from them, they got to know and privately dislike him. They also learned, more importantly, how not to show this on the surface, considering how important he was. He would make spoiled demands or offend some person or another, and they would have to sigh and act diplomatic through their annoyance.

Another thing they learned was how to dole out sympathetic but appropriate punishments to members of Soi Fong’s family who failed in their bodyguard duties. Too little would be seen as a sign of inappropriate weakness; too much would make them feel bad. So they had to tread carefully. Once Sakura made the mistake of letting someone off with a warning. The man threatened to kill himself to reclaim his honor and the Shihouin clan elders accused Yoruichi of bringing up a weakling as her disciple. Soi Fong scolded the girls and explain the situation. They learned to be more cautious after that.

Then of course they were given countless hypothetical exercises from Hanetsuki. Half of their lessons consisted of being schooled in the proper response to various situations. 

At the same time, they also began working out five days a week. Yoruichi had Soi Fong work them here, again watching from a distance, and Soi Fong was merciless. She would bark and shout at them, making them do countless pushups, sit-ups, runs, climbs, swims (in the compound pool), and crawls, lift increasingly heavier weights, go through countless balancing, leaping, and incline running exercises - and woe betide the girl who shouted back at her. Soi Fong would not strike them, but she would physically destroy them with extra exercises and rain verbal abuse down upon their heads in the form of shouting. They learned to follow orders and stay silent.

The girls quickly began eating a lot, and Sakura and Ino bulked up significantly - but in a slim, muscular way, as Yoruichi had promised. Hinata, meanwhile, lost a lot in fat and gained a lot in muscle, her body shape changing to accommodate her new regimen. Makeup did not survive all the sweat of working out, and Sakura and Ino began tying their hair back because they quickly figured out that long, loose hair was simply inconvenient for a heavy workout. Yoruichi bought them expensive cotton workout clothes and comfortable shoes, sacrificing fashion for utility.

It was a lot to carry for three nine-year-old girls, and Sakura broke down crying one afternoon during a workout. She started Ino going, and then they started Hinata going. Soi Fong stared around herself, aghast.

“What the hell is the matter with you three?!” she demanded. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” Sakura sobbed. “I look horrible and I feel awful -”

“Shut up and get up!”

Sakura’s sobs choked to a halt, as did Ino’s and Hinata’s. “Wh-what?” 

“Get up and stop sobbing, you look pathetic.” The words were spat. Slowly, tear tracks still on their faces, they got to their feet. Soi Fong got right into their faces, scowling fiercely. “Do you realize we haven’t even gotten to the bulk of the training yet?!” she barked. “You all expect to be high level ninja clan members and powerful kunoichi! Do you have any idea how difficult that is?! This is a violent, polarized, partisan world, to say nothing of how difficult being a ninja itself is! People kill each other every goddamn day! Do you know what the ninja world does to a weak, crying woman?! It chews her up and spits her back out!

“You want to cry, you cry on your own time! Not on a mission, and not while you’re training! Do we understand each other?!

“Or otherwise you might as well give up! You might as well give up on being a ninja, because it only gets harder from here! Why were you crying, huh?! Because you’re weak?! Well get stronger! The answer is obvious! What the hell is crying going to do?!”

“... Nothing, ma’am.” Ino had spoken quietly. 

“What was that?! For once I couldn’t hear you, Yamanaka!”

“Nothing, ma’am!” Ino barked, glaring straight ahead of herself. “Crying will get us nothing! Getting stronger is the only option!”

“That’s right. What about you, Haruno? Going to disappoint your parents? Be a civilian like your grandparents? No one would blame you if you did.” Soi Fong was glaring into Sakura’s face. “People with lots of chakra quit being ninja all the time.”

Anger filled Sakura, coldly channeled by her new lessons in poise and reserve. “I’m not going to quit, ma’am!” she snapped. “I want to become a powerful ninja!” 

“Then start acting like it!” Soi Fong shouted, and went over to put her face into Hinata’s. “And you, Hyuuga?” she asked, deadly quiet. “Timid once again, is that it?”

“... No.”

“What was that?” Soi Fong asked mockingly.

“No!” Hinata looked up, fists clenched, glaring. Yoruichi wondered if she knew her Byakugan eyes had activated. “I am not timid. I am not weak.”

“I can’t hear you!” 

“I SAID I’M NOT WEAK!” Hinata screamed to the ceiling.

Soi Fong straightened, suddenly reserved. “Very good,” she said. “You’re not.” Hinata’s eyes widened in surprise. It was the first time she’d ever said the words, and also the first time anyone had ever told her they were correct.

Soi Fong went to stand in front of the girls. “You all came in here weak, but you also all have incredible potential,” she said seriously. “And I’m not the mushy type, so don’t expect me to say it again. But despair is for weaklings. In the world of the warriors, getting strong is the only option. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They had changed already - that hardness and anger, that quiet obedience, that dignified reserve, it had not been there before. Perhaps, Yoruichi thought, they would make it after all.

-

She and Soi Fong met the girls in their rooms that evening. They’d been playing with the compound’s various cats - the animals were comforting when nothing else was, and all three girls had grown rather attached to them. 

“Part of that despair was pressure, but part of it was also homesickness, wasn’t it?” said Yoruichi, sympathetic.

The girls looked uncertainly at Soi Fong, afraid of seeming weak. “Off the mat, I’m just Yoruichi-sama’s assistant,” she said, offering them a small, much friendlier smile. Hesitantly, they smiled back.

“... Yeah,” Sakura muttered. “Maybe I’m a little homesick.”

The other two scuffed their feet against the floor, looking downward. From Hinata, it was expected. From Ino...? Not so much.

“I think it’s important to find a way to relax and have some fun and down time after and in between training sessions,” Yoruichi offered. “With that said, come with me.”

Surprised, they followed her and Soi Fong to the media room. It had a sofa, two armchairs, a flat screen television and a surround-sound stereo system.

And from there, they blasted music and had snacks and a movie marathon. Yoruichi introduced them to the wonders of rock music, and of horror and sci-fi movies. She laughed and threw snacks at the screen, showing the girls different things brightly.

“Whoa... Blood and gore, cool!” Ino was shouting, staring at the screen and cheering, a few minutes later.

“The futuristic setting hints at a morbid end for humanity,” said Hinata, watching the movie’s aesthetics thoughtfully.

“This is like music to punch by,” said Sakura, fascinated, listening to what was rocking around them.

“Oh, have I got some music for you,” said Soi Fong, grinning evilly, and she changed the music to bouncy pop - but with vicious and nasty themes like murder, sung in cheerful voices.

They started out interested and morbidly fascinated, but grew from there to like those same things themselves. Soi Fong and Yoruichi taught them not only a love of cats, but a love of horror, sci-fi, rock music, and vicious bubblegum pop.

Then they all got together and watched and laughed over standup comedy, having a gigantic slumber party.

They also decided to start trying out other hobbies. Hinata quickly discovered flower pressing and photography as two things she really enjoyed, which surprised Sakura and Ino - deep down, Hinata seemed to have the surest sense of herself.

Sakura and Ino weren’t sure what defined them outside of things like Sasuke, their appearance, and their training as kunoichi. Sakura didn’t know who she was, exactly, but what troubled Ino was that... she didn’t know either.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

“You are now ready for official ninja training,” said Yoruichi one day in the training room. This time she was in front of the girls, with Soi Fong slightly beside and behind her. The girls brightened, and Soi Fong offered them a smile. “So before we begin, I need to explain to you the cruel reality of what being a ninja, particularly a kunoichi, is in our world. There is a reason we have been pushing you so hard.

“Ninja are hired killers. Most countries have a Hidden Village military base full of ninja. Sometimes those Hidden Villages go to war with one another, but more often than not Hidden Villages gain their primary revenue and keep their skills sharp through ninja missions. We are hired to do anything, and we must do what we have been hired and paid to do. We could be hired to save someone; we could also be hired to kill someone. In the same month.

“Ninja are popular for hire because we will do things other people won’t. We complete the mission at any cost, preferably with the least amount of effort and bloodshed. This means we often use the dishonorable, hidden, stealthy, sneaky way of destroying opponents. We get in and out of there, unseen and fast. Honor has no place in the ninja rulebook. The only kind of honor for us is to win. If this means ganging up on somebody, killing them while they can’t see us, killing them while their back is turned, then so be it.

“Kunoichi, however, have another specialty. Most of the powerful people in the world are still men. We can seduce our way into bed with them and then kill them after getting valuable information. Who knows what seduce means? Raise your hand.”

Sakura raised hers. “To make someone fall in love with us...?” she asked uncertainly.

“Sort of and sometimes,” said Yoruichi enigmatically. “But whether or not love is involved, one other thing always will be. It’s called sex.” She got blank looks. “Sex is something two people do in a bed. A man pumps and grinds his penis into your vagina - that opening where your pee comes out? He releases into you and then it’s over. It sounds horrifying and it’s only for adults, but it actually feels great. Usually when a man calls a woman attractive, it means he wants to have sex with her. Lots of men will do anything for good sex - especially if you romantically seduce them and get them drunk first.

“You can see the usefulness, I suppose? Male ninja can’t do that.”

All three girls looked disgusted and horrified.

“That’s where babies come from,” said Soi Fong matter of factly. “You’ll learn about it in more detail later, but the man’s release is why the baby grows inside the mother. Your vagina then widens to accommodate the baby coming back out.” 

“Doesn’t that hurt?” said Ino skeptically, disturbed.

“Yes. Yes it does,” said Soi Fong matter of factly.

“So... we have to go through this every time we are assigned an infiltration mission?” Hinata asked disbelievingly.

“No,” said Yoruichi. “Good question. Pregnancy can only happen at certain times of the month, and even then there are steps you can take ahead of time to prevent it from happening. We will teach you all this later.

“But you should know up front: This is the dirty reality of what being a ninja in our world is all about. So if you want to quit and back out, this is your last chance.” She looked around at them all. “And it’s a damn good reason to walk away.”

The girls looked at each other, and then looked back, determined. Nobody moved.

“Assassin seductresses it is,” said Yoruichi, impressed by the resolve they possessed even as children. “So.” She smirked. “Let’s get started.”

Soi Fong specialized in teaching them small knife fighting - both close range and long range - while Yoruichi specialized in teaching them Shihouin taijutsu. Speed was an important component in both styles of fighting. Yoruichi and Soi Fong taught them the three chakra control exercises - Tree Climbing, Water Walking, Leaf Bending - and then taught them how to use those techniques to channel chakra into their arms and legs and make themselves stronger but, more importantly, faster. There was something using complete silence and vicious chakra-induced speed that the Shihouin had coined the “Flash Step.” In it, one didn’t even see the person move. They looked like they had teleported from one place to another, they moved so fast.

Yoruichi was called the Goddess of the Flash Step, and Soi Fong was her greatest disciple. They could blur faintly, not even looking like they’d moved from their position, and suddenly ten ninja enemies would fall over dead. While some used weights for greater speed, the Shihouin used chakra - finely tuned and vicious bursts of chakra control.

They would not rest until the girls were as talented as they were. The girls were commanded to do countless chakra control and endurance exercises until they passed out. They sparred mercilessly with their teachers without head or hand gear - all three coming upon the woman at once and still being beaten, often bruised, bloody, or cut, and then being corrected in detail as to what exactly they did wrong that made them lose the fight. And they still had to work out, on top of everything else. But they did not give up again.

Sparring against Soi Fong and Yoruichi forced them to let go of any illusions of gentleness or sympathy. They had to be tough, and they had to be vicious. This was hardest at first for Hinata, who began to do better only after Yoruichi pointed out that either the other fighter was trying to kill you, or you were training with them. “And in that case, being vicious will actually help them improve and not die in the future,” she said.

Hinata considered her sister. She’d never thought of it that way before.

Once she saw fighting as a great mission to help everyone, she did much better. This in turn increased her self confidence. And Sakura and Ino? They needed almost no push to become vicious fighters. Sakura had a temper, Ino was determined to be better than everyone else, and they still had their rivalry. Soon they began sparring each other, student against student, and then it was an all-out blood bath. One thing their teachers did show them was how to channel that anger and determination coldly - using it to make themselves more precise and in control, not less so.

Sakura, Hinata, and Ino became taijutsu and knife experts first, and they became Students of the Flash Step. Fighting each other, and fighting their Sensei, helped them improve, and the chakra control exercises were useful in all kinds of fighting environments.

Training wasn’t always so harsh, however. Their teachers did help them learn moves in a kind and friendly way, and they learned to help each other up and support each other. They were all in it together. This, also, was greatly emphasized.

At the same time, other useful ninja techniques were emphasized. On the note of silent walking, they became experts in stealth - hiding in any environment - and in sneak covert assassination techniques. Ninja wire and explosive tags became two important tools of choice. They memorized all the various anatomical and weapon-related ways a person could be killed immediately, silently, and without realizing it.

On a more academic note, they mastered codes and ciphers and the memorization of both, and were put through countless hypothetical and real-life strategy and psychology exercises to test and better their intelligence and analytical abilities during a fight. Team coordination was emphasized, as was a complete mastery of Konoha’s hierarchical structure and all the rules of ninja conduct. They also had to explain what each rule meant, furthering their reserve, their determination to get the mission done, and their respect for their superiors.

On a jutsu-related note, they mastered all three Academy ninjutsu - Transformation, Replacement, Illusion Clone - as well as the Paralysis technique, a specialty of black ops. In civilian’s lingo, this meant they could transform into anything and anyone, replace themselves with any nearby object, create copies of themselves that looked physically real and intimidating even though they were not, and paralyze someone or something from the neck down within seconds.

Then came genjutsu breaking. No illusion was completely perfect - all were limited by the user’s imagination - so genjutsu breaking involved looking for the wrong details in one’s environment that told the lie, and then disrupting one’s full-body chakra to shake free the illusion from their brains. They were put under genjutsu usually without realizing it, surprise attacks from their teachers, and in this their observational skills slowly became better and better.

This led into their personal training using their scrolls.

Sakura specialized in genjutsu. Genjutsu involved trickling a small amount of chakra into any victim’s cerebral nervous system, affecting their senses. This meant she could give a user any sensory mirage without them realizing it, while the real attack happened elsewhere. She learned how to do field-wide genjutsu, so no one could warn the others. And say someone did break out of her illusion? There was an answer for that too. Layered genjutsu - the person broke out of one layer only to fall into another. (This, incidentally, was how genjutsu users - masters of breaking free of genjutsu - fought one another.) However, she could also inflict direct damage to her target’s nervous system in a kind of chakra-based attack, and she could control their limbs and head from their cerebral nervous system with no harm done to herself. She could bind someone, or she could have them kill themselves. It made little difference.

Ino’s mind control was more direct. She could invade someone’s mind and use their body to fight other people (with two risks: her own body was unconscious and vulnerable, and the two bodies were linked). She could do this with one person, or with multiple people at once. Novice Yamanaka had to be in a straight line to do this, but expert Yamanaka could invade someone’s mind or some group’s mind from any angle.

And there was more. Ino could do body control, making people move like she was a spider and they were flies on her strings. She flicked her fingers and they did things - killed themselves, killed each other. In this case, no harm was done to herself at all. She could read minds and do psychic attacks as long as she could look her victim in the eye. And she could set up telepathic, silent communication links between different people’s minds, useful in a team situation.

Both excelled at their chosen specializations. Sakura was wicked intelligent, closely observational in detail, extremely imaginative, and could be eerily calm when she wanted to be, while Ino was vicious and dead manipulative; she actually laughed as she had her Sensei’s physical clones either humiliate or murder each other.

Off the mat and out of the diplomacy room, they were still their smiling, cheerful selves, but even there they had matured. The same could be said of Hinata, who became one of stony, quiet resolve.

Hinata’s techniques differed from the other two. They were mostly close range. Gentle Fist taijutsu involved tapping the tenketsu points on the body that chakra emanated from, blocking off the chakra from releasing and causing extensive internal organ damage in that area. A touch from a Hyuuga could literally kill you. Hinata was an expert in Hyuuga fighting, and also in Shihouin fighting; she was determined to be able to “do it all.” Her Byakugan eyes helped her see vulnerable points in a person’s anatomy. Byakugan eyes could see through anything, and for long distances, and had an almost entirely 360 degree field of vision; the Byakugan eyes were entirely unique to the Hyuuga, and their eyes gained intense-looking pupils, the veins bulging with chakra, when activated.

There were other Hyuuga advantages. Their eyes could see through techniques, including genjutsu. Their taijutsu touches could also open a tenketsu back up or heal the area around it, curing a person of injuries almost instantly. Their taijutsu strikes could cut through any incoming chakra related techniques. And they had a further line of defense - they could emanate chakra from all tenketsu on their body at once. This meant they could use cutting chakra to free themselves from prisons, or could twirl, arms outstretched, and create an impenetrable dome shield around them entirely made of chakra.

For the most part, however, the Hyuuga were close range where the Haruno and Yamanaka were long range. The ultimate Hyuuga clan technique was Divine Sixty Four Strikes, in which all of a person’s tenketsu points were shut down with great speed in under five seconds and they were killed almost instantly. The victim’s insides essentially exploded in a rain of broken bone and blood; they fell over and died.

Sakura and Ino quickly learned one rule, even in sparring fights when chakra-channeled touches were not actually used: Never let a Hyuuga get close to you in a fight. 

The girls sparred with each other, trying out new techniques, slowly becoming closer and forming new confidence, pride, and strength. Even Sakura and Ino’s rivalry was mostly teasing by now, the kind of bickering that usually came from an old couple. Their old lives and original reasons for starting were all but forgotten. They had an entirely new life here.

They continued to be introduced to new things. In her spare time, Soi Fong much enjoyed the cutesy pink-dark Goth Lolita dress-up sort of style, and Sakura, Ino, and Hinata went out shopping with her and to fashion heavy districts, and learned a similar sort of interest for the cutesy goth that tallied well with their newfound interest in sci-fi, horror, rock music, and vicious bubblegum pop. (Yoruichi called ahead to tell their families when they’d be out and about in the village - she wanted no contact until that three year period was up.)

Ino even found her first real individual hobby - she discovered she loved shopping and picking out fashions for different people. It combined beauty and bossing people around, two of her favorite things. She became a friendly sort of boss, confident, kind, and forthright - rather like Yoruichi herself, actually, with an equal sense of mischief and craftiness and an equal awareness of her own power and money.

Sakura, meanwhile, becoming more cerebral since genjutsu training, took up puzzles and books. Hinata, inspired by Soi Fong’s love for accessories, took up crafting. Hinata became calm, serene, and kind, a motherly sort of figure. Sakura became brightly spirited, intelligent, competitive, and playfully clever, but quite calm and serious when she wanted to be.

Their roles on the team flourished with increased team coordination and Ino’s telepathic mind links - Hinata as the reasonable diplomat, Sakura as the vicious strategist, and Ino as the determined leader. All, Yoruichi and Soi Fong had privately decided, were incredibly strong fighters for their age group.

It was a mark of how far they had come when Ino one day said, “Soi Fong-sama... Yoruichi-sama... we were wondering when we would learn to be seductresses.” And the three girls showed only slight trepidation. They had trust in their training and their superiors.

Yoruichi smiled. “Not until you’re a bit older,” she said. “Preteens, we’ve decided. It will be your final set of serious training.

“But for now... girls, would you consider yourselves strong?”

Sakura was suspicious. “Is that a trick question?”

Even Soi Fong laughed. “No,” said Yoruichi, amused, “it is not. I want your honest opinion.”

The girls looked at each other. “... Yes,” Hinata finally said certainly, looking forward. It was Hinata admitting she was strong that was the most deciding factor.

“Then dress nice tomorrow,” said Yoruichi, surprising them all. “It’s time to impress your respective crushes.”

The girls brightened, looking excited - their last, years-old, idealistic image of their crushes still floating in their heads. Their dreams of impressing their crushes with strength still ripe in the forefront of their minds.

Oh were they in for a rude awakening.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

Yoruichi had given them a piece of advice.

“The first step to knowing if you’re compatible with someone is if you’re attracted to them - their physical appearance, their mental qualities. But we already have that part covered.” The girls nodded. “So the next step is seeing whether you can be friends and equals. That’s very important before you marry anybody. To be friends with someone and have them treat you on an equal level, that’s very important.”

“That’s what you meant!” Ino had said in realization. “When you said we need a guy who can respect and handle our strength!”

“It’s vital for kunoichi,” said Soi Fong, nodding. “To see someone attractive as a friend, comrade, and equal. So look for that when you talk to them.” 

The girls were walking toward the Academy for the first time in years, dressed nicely for once, and all were silent with nerves. Finally, Sakura stopped. The other two turned to look at her.

Ino grinned. “Having second thoughts, Forehead Girl? Because I totally understand if you’d want to drop out of the race because of my obviously superior qualities -”

But for once Sakura didn’t take the bait. “Ino,” she said seriously, “whatever happens today, we stay friends.”

Ino sobered. “... Agreed, Sakura,” she said, nodding. “We won’t let some stupid boy come between us.”

Hinata looked from one to the other cautiously. “Good luck,” she said at last.

“Good luck,” the other two greeted her farewell.

-

“Sasuke-kun.” The word came out quieter than Sakura had meant for it to. Sasuke turned around on his way off-campus. Ino and Sakura were standing, wide-eyed, in front of him. He was even handsomer, and colder, than they remembered.

“You two... you two are the girls who went off to the Shihouin clan,” he realized, frowning. “The fangirls.”

Ino winced. Had they really been that obvious? “We’d... like to think we’ve matured since then,” she admitted.

“We hope we can become friends,” said Sakura, smiling shyly, excited.

Sasuke turned them down flat. “I don’t need friends,” he said dismissively, turning away. “Only people who can make me stronger.”

“Then I challenge you to a fight!” Ino called to his back, determined. He whirled around and stared at her, incredulous.

“You... with your abilities... fight me? It’s hardly fair.”

“Arrogant much, Sasuke?” Ino challenged. “We’ve been training, remember?”

“Yeah, because that helped you so much before.” That one stung. Sasuke seemed more honest caught off-guard. 

“Then I’ll fight alongside her,” said Sakura boldly, lifting her chin, temper flaring. “Two on one. More of a fair fight for you?”

Sasuke tensed, smirking, a fire they had never seen before at last alit in his eyes. “Now you’re talking,” he said.

He took them to an empty training field, and they faced each other across the distance.

Then Sasuke sped forward in a taijutsu move. He was fast and talented - for an Academy student never trained in the Shihouin Flash Step. As it was, Sakura and Ino dodged out of the way easily. Sasuke paused in surprised, and then he felt a kick on his back and he skidded on his face, eating dirt.

He whirled around. Sakura and Ino hadn’t moved, looking puzzled. There was no one there.

“Genjutsu,” he realized, eyes widening, and broke out of it. Sakura and Ino were standing above him.

“Sorry about the pretty face, Sasuke. It was necessary for the fight.” Sakura shrugged.

Sasuke smirked. He had them right where he wanted them, and the girls paused. He ran through the hand seals and revealed his trump card. He opened his mouth, and flames shot out of it right at the two girls, engulfing them. He wasn’t thinking about the consequences to his actions - only about winning the fight.

But he had just tried to kill them, nonetheless.

The fire and smoke faded - there was nothing there. “Shit!” he shouted, just before he felt his body freeze - and begin moving against his will, standing and making the surrender hand sign, even as he struggled against it. The second layer of genjutsu faded - Sakura and Ino were standing there, smirking.

Ino flicked her fingers and Sasuke began doing a stupid chicken dance across the training field. Sakura laughed in spite of herself. “Ino, that’s so mean!” Sasuke looked furious.

“Well I mean, what was the big idea, trying to kill us?!” Ino shouted, releasing Sasuke and stamping her foot. “It was just a friendly spar!”

“That was never specified.”

“Alright, you pedantic jackass -” Ino hadn’t lost her cool this much in a long time. But Sasuke wasn’t finished.

“How did you beat me.”

“... What?” said Sakura, caught off guard, her eyes widening.

“How did you beat me?” he growled, fists clenched, eyes hard. “Is the Academy really holding me back so much? If even you two can grow that much under a private tutor, why am I stuck in the Academy?!”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on -” said Ino in annoyance. (She was still caught on the ‘even you two’ part.)

“Can’t handle a little friendly competition, Sasuke?” said Sakura, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.

“I already told you, I don’t have friends! I have rivals!” he spat, and all of a sudden he was having a meltdown; he looked highly unstable. “My only goal in life is to kill my brother, and this damn village is getting in the way of that, as always!”

“Sasuke -!” Sakura called after him, but Sasuke had already stormed off the training field.

“Wow. That was an impressive imitation of a five year old’s temper tantrum,” said Ino flatly, standing there with her arms folded. She was so upset it had leaked over into ‘pissed off.’

Sakura looked after Sasuke, heartbroken. “Sasuke-kun...”

“You’re not really pining over that asshole?” said Ino disbelievingly.

“No, over my image of him... It’s just... I thought he’d be able to handle it. Someone as strong as he is.” Sakura looked down, depressed. Then she looked up. “I broke up our friendship over some guy who doesn’t even like us. I’m sorry, Ino.”

Ino smiled bittersweetly. “I remember. As little kids, we used to be best friends.”

“... Do you think we could be that way again?” said Sakura, daring to be hopeful. “I mean... you frustrate the hell out of me sometimes, Ino, but you’re still my best friend.”

Ino looked at her for a moment. Then she smiled. “Yeah,” she said. “I think we can manage that. But we have another best friend now too.

“Come on. Let’s go find number three.”

-

Hinata had found Naruto on the tree swing in the Academy’s front courtyard. One of his favorite spots, she remembered. As always, at the end of the day, he was alone. She felt for him.

“... Naruto-kun.”

Naruto looked around and Hinata’s breath caught. His eyes were much bluer than she remembered.

Then Naruto’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Uh... who are you?”

Hinata’s heart hurt for a moment. He didn’t even remember her. Then she gathered her resolve. Well, she thought firmly, that had to change.

“My name is Hyuuga Hinata.” She willed herself not to stutter or second guess. “I was taken out of the Academy for private training.”

“Oh, that was you?” Then Naruto grinned. “Hey, you know... I’ve been learning some new moves, too.”

Hinata smiled warmly. “I’m sure you have. Would you like to train together?”

Naruto stood quickly, brightening. “Hell yeah I would!” 

So they, too, went to a training area, and began sparring cautiously, more to show off each other’s moves than anything. They focused on taijutsu, and Hinata did not use chakra in her Gentle Fist touches. But Hinata quickly realized two things.

First, that Naruto had been blustering. He had no significant skills to speak of and beating him was pathetically easy. She had grown so much and if anything he had actually regressed back past his nine year old self.

Second, that he didn’t like fighting someone who was stronger than he was. He didn’t feel like he could get angry at a girl - which she had mixed feelings about - so instead he got uncertain and at the end of the fight, when she’d knocked him over for the third time and he’d stood, he scuffed his foot and looked away. “Uh, good job,” he muttered begrudgingly, obviously uncomfortable and wanting to be anywhere but here.

“... Naruto, I release you,” said Hinata softly, staring at him for a long moment. “You’re free to go.” And she walked off the training field.

“Hey, where are you going?!” She looked around into his big blue eyes and realized she could see it - dating the nice guy who was slightly stupid but always resented her being above him.

“Naruto, you don’t like fighting girls, do you?” Hinata asked, somewhat rhetorically.

“Of course not! Girls are people to be protected!” He looked innocent, like he saw nothing wrong with this answer - but Hinata, trained from her youth to be a fighter, realized she did.

Hinata nodded. “Naruto, if you ever need me, I’ll be here - but as a friend. Not as a sparring partner or... anything else. Okay?”

And she walked away, rather hurt. Naruto stared after her in confusion.

-

Sakura and Ino found Hinata and they all comforted one another. The three girls met up with Soi Fong and Yoruichi at a cafe. They were downcast and depressed. 

“I take it that it didn’t go well?” Yoruichi asked dryly, seeing their faces.

Sakura shook her head. “Sasuke-kun is -”

“An asshole,” Ino supplied.

Sakura glared at Ino slightly. “Immature, condescending, and obsessed with some misplaced idea of revenge,” she finished. 

“And Naruto-kun sees women as objects to be protected. He’s nice, but he’s weak and dumb and he’d always secretly resent me being above him. He just felt like he couldn’t say anything about it,” said Hinata, frowning, troubled.

“You don’t look surprised,” said Ino flatly, glaring at her Sensei.

“Well...” said Yoruichi. She shrugged. “I think this was an important lesson in learning what kind of person you want to be with later on in life. Sakura and Ino prefer the more reserved genius type, while Hinata prefers the more loud and hot headed and rebellious type - but you all want someone strong who will respect you and treat you as an equal, which is good.”

“You won’t settle,” Soi Fong put in. “That’s important.”

“But I didn’t honestly expect any of it to work out. I saw it coming,” Yoruichi finished. “You three just needed to see it for yourselves. Childhood crushes rarely do. Heartbreak is a natural part of life.”

The girls nodded seriously, reflecting.

“I grew out my hair for him,” Sakura realized.

“So did I,” said Ino, chin in her hand, gloomy and depressed.

“I always wore baggy clothing because I thought he wouldn’t like my body,” Hinata admitted.

Yoruichi and Soi Fong looked at each other - then looked forward and smiled mischievously. “Well - how about a new look?”

So they took the girls out on the town and taught them a lot about fashion, what looked good and what didn’t. Beauty, after all, was in fact an important aspect of being a kunoichi. They bought waterproof makeup, layering it lightly over their face, each choosing colors that suited their complexion and dark eyeliner. They bought tight little revealing kunoichi dresses - even Hinata, finally, chose to show off her body in all its splendor. And they each got new haircuts that suited their face shape - short haircuts, with Ino and Sakura chopping their hair off and feeling incredibly freed.

Hinata’s kunoichi dress was black. Her hair was in a cute, sweet, face-hugging chin-length layered bob with side-swept bangs.

Ino’s kunoichi dress was burgundy. Her hair was in an angled long bob, asymmetrical, with no bangs.

Sakura went craziest. She moved past the color red, past the long hair, past everything that had made her who she was. She went for something completely different. Her kunoichi dress was plum. Her hair was in a messy, fringed pixie haircut, shaggy and rebellious and looking good with the dark eyeliner she wore around her eyes.

They had grown into their bodies. Ino was a pear (“with a sweet ass and perky tits,” in her own self confident words), Hinata was a curvaceous, fit hourglass, and Sakura was a slim, boyish, rangy and elegant rectangle. None of them were particularly tall, but they were all okay with that.

Soi Fong and Yoruichi stood behind them in the mirror, proud. “Excellent,” said Soi Fong crisply.

“Look good, girls,” said Yoruichi, smiling mischievously, and the girls too smiled at themselves in the mirror - happy in spite of the heartbreak they had suffered earlier. Happy with the people they’d become.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

“And now, at last,” said Yoruichi, in a grand sort of way, “we get to the juicy part: sexual seduction.”

“Don’t look so excited,” said Soi Fong, smirking, as the girls were leaning forward eagerly. “It means murdering men.”

The girls did not look any less thrilled.

“We start,” said Yoruichi, “with the basics.”

They went through what Soi Fong called “the decorative stuff” first. “Think of this as like deconstructing a cake,” she said. “We start with the top. Icing and decoration.”

The icing and decoration, so to speak, turned out to be sex ed, sensitivity training, and training in how to kill a man without getting implied in the murder and in how to sneak away without anyone noticing.

Sex ed: Everything from periods to shaving to deodorant to sex to pregnancy to female anatomy to contraceptives to masturbation. A basic grounding in everything to do with sex and puberty, particularly as it related to women, and especially as it related to women who worked out for a living. Yoruichi and Soi Fong taught their students about tampons, all-day pain relievers, and “period kits” to put in weapons pouches, in addition to all the talk on shaving, condoms, and birth control pills. 

(Yoruichi’s mischievous sense of humor was brought fully to bear here. It was very important to her that her students be able to joke and talk frankly and casually about sex.)

Sensitivity training: Learning to see the little flaws and details in a man that can keep you from falling in love with him for a set period of time. Basically, second-guessing your instincts, overthinking it. Sensitivity training also involved researching the personality and culture of the man being seduced and showing off your acting skills, tailoring your act to suit the whims of the man you were trying to win over. A lot of cunning and training in what good spy-work consisted of was included here.

“No matter how tempting it is, never use or think about this in your personal lives,” said Soi Fong seriously. “It’s disaster in an actual relationship. Know yourselves. Keep your husbands and boyfriends in your personal lives out of your on-the-job mind games.”

“What about you guys? Why don’t we ever see you with anybody?” asked Sakura, and Ino nodded curiously.

Soi Fong and Yoruichi looked at one another. “We’re happy with each other,” said Yoruichi; Soi Fong looked very reserved. “It was why I wanted students to teach my ways.”

The girls were surprised. It was the first time they had ever seen their teachers as human beings.

Murder training: They were taught how to dress provocatively (including neck painting), conceal weapons inside pieces of jewelry and hair ornaments, and they were given several ways to quickly and silently kill someone without leaving any DNA evidence. They were also given psychological training in learning how to deal with the idea of murdering another human being.

Then they got to the cake, so to speak: The actual seduction techniques.

These varied. Some of them were sexual: strip-tease, tips on positions and sexual techniques. They were taught how to drink all night without getting drunk. 

But others were more romantic: They learned patience and refinement in the traditional arts, such as cooking, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, Nihon Buyo dancing, shamisen playing, and calligraphy and ink painting. They came to have an especial fondness for tea, and Yoruichi taught them how to cook good food and love it.

But then they also learned more modern seductive arts: painting and drawing, poetry, sexual dancing, modern instruments, interior decorating - and of course they’d already learned fashion. They learned to play games, including sexual games, and speak on a wide variety of interesting subjects, from politics to music and books.

The general goal was similar to a geisha’s - they were supposed to be as beautiful, charming, and entertaining as possible. The difference between a geisha and a kunoichi was this: Geisha didn’t have sex with their clients, or try to glean special information from them. And that was a kunoichi seductress’s whole goal in career.

Their training in comportment and refinement came in handy here, as did their psychological observation and analysis and their acting skills.

They learned massage and ASMR techniques, and finally it all came together: They went through several mock “seductions” right through up to the part where the two people had sex. Then they skipped that part and went straight to the murder techniques.

It was interesting training that had several affects.

Sakura formed a love for writing poetry. Hinata formed a love for baking. Ino took up drawing in real life, along with partner dancing.

But Yoruichi and Soi Fong also took this opportunity to teach Hinata, Ino, and Sakura about feminism.

“Feminism is the radical belief that women are human beings,” said Yoruichi. “In other words, that we’re people before we are women. That includes the belief that we are equal to, though different from, men.”

And from here, they took the girls on a trip through radical concepts like body positivity, gender roles, sexuality, and the idea that they had the right to demand equality in a relationship. They offered several books and websites for extra reading, and encouraged the girls to research more about these issues for themselves.

“This is not a kunoichi’s only job,” was Yoruichi’s last lesson. “But it can be one of them.”

-

The girls spent their last half of a year basically solidifying all the skills they had learned in the last two and a half. They were given fake situations and missions, sparred with one another, practiced techniques, continued to work out, and sparred with their teachers.

They had become accustomed to the Shihouin compound. It had become their home.

At last, when it was time to leave - return to their homes, take the Genin Exam - the girls were visibly upset. They had their packs of things, ready to leave the compound, but they were staring sadly up at Soi Fong and Yoruichi.

The two women smiled. “Don’t worry,” said Yoruichi. “It isn’t really goodbye. You’ll have your own clans now. And we’ve talked to Hokage-sama. If you graduate into Genin status... we will be your squad commanders. A little extra incentive. Or not, I suppose,” she mused.

But the girls had brightened in delight.

“Alright!” 

“I’ll definitely pass!”

“We won’t let you down!”

Soi Fong bit back a smile and Yoruichi chuckled. “See that you don’t. I’ve actually grown fond of you little brats.”

“Do well,” said Soi Fong, nodding with dignity.

The girls turned and left the compound, determined. It was time to rejoin their clans - and take the Genin Exam.


End file.
